Chapter 13.

To say I was shocked was a massive understatement. The last few days I had noticed a change in the way Javelin acted, I just thought that she had become more comfortable around me, maybe a bit of clinginess, but after what we had already experienced who's to blame.

My mind finally overcame the shock and I returned to my senses. Javelin moved her head slightly, I felt one of her tears run down my cheek.

I should have pulled away, but all the stress I had been feeling melted away at the warm feeling of her soft lips, so instead I felt myself leaning into it.

Knowing the moment, the kiss ended she would be overwhelmed with emotions and immediately try to get away I wrapped my arms around her in a hug. She hummed at the contact, her grip on my shirt tightened.

The growing need to breathe forced Javelin to break the kiss. After a few breaths the she came to her senses and realised what she had done. "I... I." burying her face in my chest she wrapped her arms around me and cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't hate me."

"Javelin. I could never hate you. I'm sorry I didn't notice you have been feeling like this." She continued to cry while I held her. I moved one of my hands and gently started to rub the top of her head.

After a while the crying started to slow and I felt her relax slightly. Javelin moved her head to look at me. "It's not your fault. I'm just so scared of losing you."

"Loose me? Javelin, I would never leave you."

"But what if it's not up to you. There… there was so much blood, I said that were warships and that this kind of life is what were made for, but you, you're just a human. Even the slightest mistake and you'd be gone. I already lost a crew before; I don't want to lose you as well."

We were both quiet as I thought over what she had said I realised how much of a fool I had been these last few days, all these girls had experienced noting but loss, and there I was putting myself in danger time and time again.

"Javelin, I'm sorry for not seeing how much you cared, I wish with all my heart that I could say that I wouldn't put myself in harm's way again, but I think you know the nature of the world we live in doesn't give that sort of privilege."

Her eyes dropped at what I said, I cupped her chin and brought it up so I could look into her eyes. I gave her a soft smile. "Earlier you said the sea is home for you girls. Well, I may not feel the same draw to it like you do, but in a way, it's become a home for me as well, and one I'm willing to fight for."

"But It's dangerous."

"And I have total faith in you girls to keep me safe." I could see that I hadn't convinced her. "A deal then, I practice more caution and don't get myself into unnecessary danger but if I do, then you have my full permission to slap me on the face and tell me I'm being stupid."

Javelin giggled slightly. "Ok, but can I ask for something in return?" I nodded, she held her words for a few seconds, building up as much courage she could muster. "C-could we... kiss, again?"

"We can, as many times as you would like. But you have to promise me something." I wiped away one of her tears. "We don't have any more of these. Your face is far too pretty to be crying."

With a nod she leaned in again and gave me another kiss. Unlike the first, this one was softer and more delicate. All the tension in her body seemed to disappear. When she finally pulled away Javelin held her hand against her chest. "Such a rush. I can really have as many of those as I like?"

"That's the deal, as long as it makes you happy you can have them whenever you want. Though, I must ask, what has got you so infatuated with wanting kisses all of a sudden?"

She scratched the top of her head. "Well, ever since we saw that couple back in Liverpool, a curious thought kept creeping up in my mind. When I asked Hood about it, she just giggled and told me it's a natural reaction and that I should follow my feelings, and when the time is right to act upon them without hesitation."

I couldn't help but laugh. "That woman, I swear she enjoys messing with me."

With a yawn I moved myself so I was able to lay back down in bed, I gestured for her to Join me. "It's been both a long day and night. Let's try and get some sleep."

Javelin wiped away the last of her tears, with a smile she came and joined me. Without saying anything she moved to give me a soft kiss before properly laying down.

"I see your enjoying that I said as many as you liked." I pulled the cover over us and brought Javelin into a hug. "Right, time to finally get some good rest. Goodnight Javelin."

"Goodnight, James."

It would seem that fate, or whatever it is that decides the course of events has it out for me. I had been asleep for less than an hour before we were both suddenly awoken by the sound of someone screaming.

"Is one peaceful night really too much to ask for." I mumbled while rubbing my eyes. My reaction to the noise was slow due to the fog of sleep still clouding my mind. "Did Elizabeth find a spider in her room of something?"

Javelin also in a state of half sleep gave me an annoyed look. "I don't have any spiders onboard." Her eyes focused. "No, her majesty has only just woken up. It's coming from…" with a shock of realisation she grabbed my arm. "It's coming from the sick bay!"

In a heartbeat I was out the door running down the hallway as fast as I could, barely avoiding a collision with Elizabeth as she walked out of her room still rubbing at her eyes.

The ships lights were mostly off, only a few dim red lights illuminated the ships interior. It was by some miracle that I didn't hit my head on a bulkhead or trip on an exposed pipe.

With pain I'm my legs from the sudden exertion and the cold of the ships metal floor biting at my feet I finally reached the sick bay. Inside my eyes were immediately drawn towards the chaos at the mystery girls bed.

U-556 was frantically trying her hardest to hold her down. With unfocused eyes the girl was moving erratically, arms and legs both swung out in random directions. It was almost as if she was trying to fight off an invisible foe.

As I quickly made my way over one of her fists made contact directly onto u-556's nose, sending her back and releasing her grip. Realising that she risked injuring herself I put my hands on her shoulders and tried to pin her down.

The second my hands made contact her body tensed up, her hands griped onto my arms with so much strength I thought she was going to break them. Fortunately with a deep breath her eyes focused on mine and her body relaxed.

"Ah, you finally with us? Good thing really, wouldn't want you to reach the point of using your rigging." She blinked, I noticed the deep violet of her eyes. While I don't think there could ever be anyone who could compete with Hood, her soft complexion combined with the deep blond of her hair, she was rather beautiful.

Her head tilted, she looked at her hands before moving one to touch her face, the other moved to touch mine. She traced along the side of my face while mirroring the action on hers, finally her fingers reached our lips before she pulled away.

I let go of her and stood back, she sat up and looked over her body. A few preliminary sounds came from her throat before she finally spoke. "Wo bin ich, was ist das?"

"… Ah, that's not good."

"Oh sweet, a fellow Iron blood." U-566 said in a nasally tone. She walked over with one hand on her nose, there was a few drops of blood on her, but she didn't seem to care.

She spoke to the girl in her native tongue, while our languages did share a few words, my limited interactions with Germans meant the only words I could recognise were insults.

After a small conversation U-556 turned to look at me with a wide smile. "She's good, just a little confused."

A pair of footsteps hailed the arrival of both Javelin and Elizabeth, I gave a quick look see that they were both fine before turning back. "Can she speak English?"

"Uh, let me check." She asked the girl, she looked away in confusion, her lips moved as if she was speaking to herself.

"I… Can?" The girl spoke, she looked surprised that she was able to. "It's all there, I just… need to want to speak it." She put a hand to her chin. "How curious." She spoke with an even thicker German accent than U-556.

I had wondered how U-556 had been able to speak English, but it was a question that could be answered later. "I know everything is probably really confusing for you now, but just know that you are safe here." I offered a hand. "Names James Dawson. This here is U-556 and those two are Javelin and Queen Elizabeth."

"I am Z23, a type 1936A zerstörer." She shook my hand.

Javelin rushed over. "A destroyer! That's amazing I'm one too." She took her hand just as I had let it go and proceeded to shake it rather quickly. "Javelin, J-class. I hope we can be good friends."

Z23 was a bit overwhelmed by Javelin, but eventually smiled back. "I also hope we can become good acquaintances. Though I must ask, why have I been granted a human form?"

"That's one of the biggest mystery's out there." I spoke as I sat on the bed opposite. With the situation calmed everyone moved to get more comfortable. Javelin and U-556 went to sit on chairs beside her bed while Elizabeth went over to her sisters, but I could tell she was still listening in on our conversation.

"Blue cubes keep appearing all over, and it seems when the right conditions are met they become humanised versions of old warships. It's probably been around a hundred years since you were last around, can you recall anything?" I wanted to ask if she could remember anything about being connected to that machine, but I didn't want to worry her.

"It's… hard to remember, like I'm looking through the memories of someone else." She coughed slightly, her voice sounding hoarse.

"Yeah that's how I remember things from back then" Javelin spoke as she sat up to pour a glass of water before offering it to her.

"Danke." She took the drink and held it up to the light watching the water move inside. Bringing the glass to her mouth she took a tentative sip before gulping down the rest of it as fast as she could.

"We had been given orders to sortie out from Wilhelmshaven, a small siren fleet had been spotted by our reconnaissance aircraft in the North Sea, our objective was to damage the sirens to the point where one could be captured for study. When we arrived, it had obviously been a ruse." She instinctively sat up and hugged her knees. "

"A humanoid siren was hiding within the formation. Within minutes our fleet had been destroyed and I was immobilised." Her face became confused. "She… landed on my deck. Then, I was fighting in the Atlantic? no, the Baltic, pacific, the Indian." Her hands went to her ears and she started to hyperventilate. "I don't get it. my crew died, over and over. It didn't end, I can hear them screaming! I, I."

Z23 started to panic, I moved over and pulled her into a hug. "It's ok, your safe here, nothing is going to get to you." the other girls looked on in shock, Javelin got up and started to softly rub her on the back.

"Don't worry, my ship is completely safe."

With both of us comforting her she slowly calmed down again, we both stood back to give her some room. After another drink of water, she started to speak again. "Apologies, it all came to me in a torrent, I wasn't able to control it. These human emotions really are something else.

"Yeah, they can be." I thought about what she said, whatever that siren had done to her cube had put her through hell. "I know this may be a sensitive subject. But can you try to remember what happened right before you woke up here."

"Uh." she looked hesitant to try and recall difficult memories, I was about to tell her it was fine, but Javelin put a hand on hers and gave her a smile. "I will try." griping Javelin's hand she closed her eyes. "I was in the mid-Atlantic fighting sirens, but they were different. They had a blue tint to them and they acted in ways they never had before. I was being completely destroyed by them; the fires were about to reach my magazine. And then..."

"Then it all stopped. The cries of my crew went silent and the burning pain started to fade. I was falling in an empty abyss, but it was peaceful. Then" She looked to me. "You were there reaching out to me. You... You saved me from that nightmare."

I leaned back. She had confirmed a few suspicions. "This solves a few questions, you said a blue tint right? Well, we found you in a facility that was collecting data from your cube, a siren was there that had disguised herself as a human, but once I grabbed you she attacked us. She used ships that had the same blue tint and mentioned new combat doctrines."

Z23 hung her head. "So because of my weakness, more people are going to suffer."

"Don't worry about it too much." I gave her a pat on the back. "What matters is that your safe and as for these new sirens, well U-556 was easily able to sink them."

"Ya, they acted a bit different from before, but these new bodies we have makes sinking sirens easy peasy. Just you wait until you get to try out your guns, they punch straight through their shielding."

"Then what happened to her?" She gestured towards Warspite.

"Ones sister has a tendency to throw herself haphazardly into danger." Elizabeth got up and walked over. "Warspite fought alone against the siren at the facility so James could get you to safety. But I do not wish for you to feel any guilt towards her current condition, nor would she."

She offered a hand. "I am the Dreadnought, Queen Elizabeth. I am pleased to see you awake." Elizabeth looked over to Javelin. "Miss Javelin, dawn is soon upon us and I believe Miss Z23 should bear whiteness to the beauty of seeing a sunrise through human eyes. Would you be so kind as to escort her to the deck, then you could give her a tour of your ship?"

Javelin seemed excited at the idea. "That's a great idea! Come Z23, you'll be amazed at the sight. And then I can show you around, you will have to tell me the differences in ship design between our nations! Oh, maybe we could even check out your ship?" she looked to me. "If that's alright with you James?"

I waved my hand, happy to see Javelin so motivated. "Yeah, as long as you don't do anything that would draw too much attention to us."

"We won't, come Z23 let's get you out of this bed." She grabbed the boots that were on the side table and handed them to her.

"Yes, viewing the sunrise does sound like a entertaining experience." She calmly put on the boots and pulled her socks tight before clipping them there with the garters.

She hesitated slightly before slowly standing up from the bed. Wobbling slightly she took a few small steps before she got her balance.

Z23 felt the top of her head and hummed. "Mmm, something is missing. Ah that looks right." She took the beret from the table and placed it squarely on her head before grabbing the iron cross and tying it to her hair. "Much better."

"I think, I will tag along as well." U-556 chimed in. "I could do with stretching my legs out on the ocean for a bit. Might try diving down too, the seabed here would be a good test of my manoeuvrability. Don't worry I won't go too far."

"Just be careful. I don't know why but this place just gives me a strange feeling."

They nodded. Javelin grabbed Z23's hand and started to practically drag her out of the room. "Come, there much to see. Oh! Did you know my class is the first type of Destroyer designed in the Royal navy to only have two boilers? It helped with speed and keeping our size small. Oh, and did you..." Her voice trailed off as she walked away with the two girls in tow.

"Huh, well they seem to get along well." I commented. It was Just me and Elizabeth left in the room now.

"Like birds of a feather, Javelin is probably just happy to have another destroyer around. Us capital ships can be in fleets where we are the only one. However, destroyers always sail together." Elizabeth walked back over to her sister's bed. "I never did get to sortie with any of my sisters. My combat record is, rather lacking, I was always getting damaged and spending long stints in a repair yard. If it wasn't for Warspite and her achievements, my class would probably be considered outdated and useless."

"Hey now, less of that." Walking over I started to give her a headpat, without anyone else around she happily accepted it. "You are a magnificent ship and so is the rest of your class. The fighting is far from done, and you will have plenty of chances to show the world your glory."

"Yeah." She grabbed Warspites hand. "Though I would give it all up if it meant I could keep her safe."

"And that is what makes you worthy of it." I put my free hand on Elizabeth's as we shared a silent moment together, both of us just watching the slow movements of Warspite's chest as she slept.

The sun had nearly finished its rise and fall of the day, the sky had started to become a deep red as night approached. The day had been rather eventless, after looking over both of their ships Javelin and Z23 spent the day sitting in the officer's room while Javelin brought her up to speed on everything that we had been through this last week. I did have a few burning questions I wanted to ask Z23 but she was still rather skittish, whatever that machine had done to her had left its mark on her psyche. I figured a few days of good sleep and warm meals would help and then we could have a more serious discussion.

Elizabeth had resigned herself to spend the entire day at her sister's bedside, it took a rather forceful amount of convincing to get her to at least spend an hour out on deck. Which she spent at the stern of the ship sitting on the edge, looking into the water.

I had spent most of the day looking at the clock. The time I had predicted Hood to return came and went hours ago. To say I was starting to get worried was an understatement.

"James, if you keep pacing like that, your going to wear a grove onto my deck." Javelin commented. It was true, I had kept walking over to the radar and then going and looking out the windows.

"Sorry, it's just Hood should have been back ages ago." Javelin and Z23 had joined me on the bridge a while ago. Apparently, my constant walking back and forth had been giving Javelin a headache.

Javelin walked over to my side and patted me on the back. "She'll be fine. Hood was the largest ship the navy ever put to sea, with the power granted to us by these bodies there's probably little out there that could harm her. She probably just got held up by some bad weather."

I sighed. "Your probably right. Just with how everything has been going, I could do with something going right."

"And it will, Hood will return soon with the supplies and we can have a nice meal together. And before you know it, Warspite will be healed up and sailing again."

Seeing Javelin back to her normal happy mood had cheered me up slightly. It was good to know that I wasn't completely useless at leading people. "You always seem to know what to say Javelin. Whatever your do, don't go finding another fleet now." I laughed and ruffled her hair.

"How could I? You have a promise to fulfil." To drive home her point, she grabbed my collar and pulled me down into a deep kiss. Z23 Gasped, hands covering her mouth in shock. Javelin just hummed before ending the kiss. "You did say whenever. And I intend to keep you to your word." She hugged me with a satisfied smile.

"S-so brazen. I did not realise you two were in such a relationship." Z23 stuttered out.

Javelin looked over to her. "Huh? Oh no, just a deal we have. But James I would like to add lots of hugs and headpats to the deal.

"Whatever you want Javelin." For a second it crossed my mind that I might be spoiling her, but I was finding it harder and harder to want to say no to that smile.

"W-we." Z23 coughed, her face went beet red. "We can do things like that?"

"Sure can, here come get a hug from him, it's the best thing ever." Z23 went to shake her head only for Javelin to walk over and start pushing her towards me. "Here, just wrap your arms around his body and let him do the same, all the armour in the world doesn't compare to how safe it makes you feel."

She still looked very nervous, but I could tell from how she was fidgeting that she wanted a hug. "You don't have to if you don't want to, Javelin can be a little pushy sometimes."

"Nien, it would be interesting to try." Z23 was slightly taller than Javelin but I still leaned down slightly and opened my arms out. With a shy step she wrapped her arms around me, I felt her tense up as I did the same but she eventually relaxed. "It's so... warm."

A second set of arms hugged Z23 as Javelin joined the hug. "I said you would like it, now you just need to try some headpats and kisses. Oh, and snuggling up with him in bed, that's the best."

"Sharing a bed? How unanständig." She whispered, making me realise I needed to have a talk with Javelin about how to use better phrasing."

The hug continued for a while longer, to the point where my back started to hurt slightly from leaning down. I was about to say something until Javelin stepped back and turned around looking off into the distance. "Hehe, I told you Hood would be alright." She pointed out of a porthole.

Walking over to the porthole I looked out towards the horizon, far off there was a small dot. "Wow, her rigging is completely covered in cargo bags, looks like we won't need to worry about supplies for a long time." Said Javelin as she stood on her tiptoes looking through another porthole.

She was still too far away for me to see anything. "Javelin, you can see her? There's nothing but a dot for me."

"Really? Maybe you need to get your eyes checked. Anyway, seeing how much you've been missing her, go wait out on deck. We'll go get everyone ready in my mess, I could do with something to eat."

As they left to find the other two, I made my way down onto the bow of the ship. I felt a different kind of nervousness come over me. Hood seemed to radiate elegance, making me feel out of place being at her side. I checked my collar making sure it was straight.

With a leap she jumped up onto the deck, landing perfectly without the slightest bit of wobble despite the added weight on her rigging being enough that I could feel the impact through the deck.

Grabbing the sides of her dress she curtseyed. "I even get a welcoming ceremony. I'm honoured commander." There it was, that smile, no matter how hard you could try, memory could not do it justice. Its brilliance combined with her beauty could make you stumble over all the words you wanted to say, I believe even a photograph wouldn't be able to give the same feeling as the real thing.

Hood looked over me and shook her head. Walking over she spoke "Though, it wouldn't hurt you to be properly dressed." She somehow found a problem with my collar, making me mentally kick myself as she fixed it. "There, much better."

I brought out her pendent from my pocket and held it up. The gold of its edge shone in the light of the setting sun. "Here, I kept it safe for you. It's embarrassing to admit, but its reassuring weight was rather comforting."

Her hand went to close mine back round the pendant. "Keep it, until the day its comfort is no longer required, then you can give it back."

She started to untie all the bags from her rigging, I put her pendent safely back in my pocket. "It really is good to see you again Hood, I hope everything went alright." I moved to help her.

"Yes, everything was mostly fine. At the port I learned that Siren attacks have suddenly increased, Portsmouth was hit and even London was attacked from the air. everyone was on edge." She stopped for a few seconds and looked to where she had come from. "Sometimes, while I was sailing, there was this felling that I was being watched, but neither my radar or sonar could detect anything."

"Well, you're here now. That's all that matters to me."

Looking her shoulder, she gave me a coy smile. "Oh? You know it's bad strategy to openly let a girl know how much you want her. Gives us all the cards."

I felt my face go warm. "Ah! No, I didn't mean it like th-" I stopped when she started laughing.

"You still have much to learn my dear commander. But I must say I'm happy to see such healthy colour in your face again." One of her hands reached up into my shirt, softly pressing against my chest. "And everything here seems to be in place once again, I'm surprised at how quickly it healed."

"That's a long story, and one I don't really understand myself. But it can be saved for later, Javelin Is getting the others together in the mess, we should hurry up and get some food over."

We finished untying everything, Hood seemed to roll her shoulders as the rigging disappeared. Picking up a few bags between us and leaving the ones she said could stay outside for now we started making our way inside the ship.

"So that cute young girl was a German destroyer? Can't say I'm surprised, both her clothing and similar size to Javelin said as much. But it's good that Miss Javelin now has a friend, I wonder if she would let me have a look at that peculiar underclothing of hers, its tight elastic fit really helps embellish a woman's curves. I wonder if it's a similar material to tights."

"Just be careful around her. Something was done to her cube that has had a lasting effect. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to have a serious conversation with her about it."

"Just give it time, you've had Javelin for about a week and she's already completely infatuated with you." Hood mused.

Her comment reminded me of what happened in the night, especially about who had told Javelin about kissing. "Oh yeah." I stopped and turned to look at her. "You had to go and tell her to just follow her feelings. Last night the poor girl looked like she was about to scuttle herself in embarrassment when she kissed me."

A slight look of surprise appeared on her faces before she quickly hid it with a smile. "Stealing kisses in the night, are we? You really are a womaniser." She winked. "I could tell that girl was feeling conflicted, all I did was give her a little push. Otherwise, she may have bottled up her feelings and made herself sick. Tell me, how is her mood been since she kissed you? I'm guessing it has improved."

I thought about it. "Your right. It's like she's the happiest girl on earth."

"Didn't realise your kisses had that much power, might have to try one for myself." her gaze moved down towards my lips. "Mm, maybe some other time. A ships hallway just doesn't feel like the best place for a girls first kiss."

We started walking again until we reached the mess. After Introducing herself to Z23 she recounted her trip. I was surprised to see her to not mention anything about the Siren attacks across the county, it was probably for the best, so I didn't mention anything.

Hood had a knack for steering conversations and it eventually went to clothing, I could tell she was trying to learn about Z23's. Knowing there wasn't much to add I excused myself and started to prepare some food for dinner.

The supply run had been a lifesaver. With just a quick glance of how much we had, even with the extra mouth to feed there would be enough to last us a few weeks. All we needed now was for Warspite to wake up, I felt Hoods pendant in my pocket. "Just let this luck hold out a little longer and bring her back to us."

(A/N)

Hope everyone is happy that this chapter came out quickly, I'm slowly getting back into my flow and feeling really motivated for what I have coming down the pipe for the story.

In this chapter I used a bit of German, Just because I thought it would fit the narrative, I just want to say that it will probably be very rare for me to use it apart from the usual words everyone knows.

Finally I'm looking to get some commission artwork done for this story, mostly for a upcoming scene I think might look nice with a visual representation. So if you know of any artists or are one yourself then please feel free to let me know. if not I will just try and make it myself so no biggie.

Catch you next time.